Hello! I am Jordi Asensio, Lead Game Designer on Streets of Rage 4. I worked on the game design system, character integration, level design and game modes. Today I would like you introduce the new Survival mode, as well as the new characters that will be playable in our DLC, Mr. X Nightmare – available July 15th.
The developers of Streets of Rage 4 offer an in-depth look at Mr. X Nightmare’s Survival mode in a new episode of PlayStation Underground.
Introducing Streets of Rage 4 Survival Mode
We’ve always wanted a Survival mode for Streets of Rage 4, but decided to focus on the campaign first so as not to hijack production. It was a tough decision, but we knew it was the right one.
With the release of the game, we may be focusing on a post-launch expansion. I started to reflect on previous ideas we had as well as player feedback. I noticed that the fans wanted, in addition to new content, new ways to play. We therefore took up the challenge on two fronts: the gameplay (characters and mechanics) and the content (enemies, scenes).
I also wanted to take this opportunity to inject a sense of progression of power into our base game experience, without overwhelming players with overly elaborate RPG elements that would negatively impact the pace of the game. came the idea to use the benefits.
We made sure our early benefits were built on existing gaming systems. This first batch was pretty simple: increase the character’s strength, defense and speed, and give him weapons. We then added more unusual elements – elemental effects (fire, thunder, poison). Once we moved forward with this concept, we added new ideas – for example, damn perks with both positive and negative effects. We have also identified synergies between Perks to create surprising combinations.
After that came months of testing and balancing.
Estel hits hard.
Faced with simulation
In Streets of Rage 4’s Survival mode, the player uses the remnants of Mister X’s brain to enter a simulation. This simulation produces waves of enemies in arenas filled with traps. Once a wave is beaten, you can choose between two perks that remain active for your entire run.
There is no selectable difficulty. Rather, we designed races around three phases: start, middle and end of the game. To achieve this, we have worked diligently on the relationship between the difficulty curve and player power.
In the start of game, the player begins to shape their build and approach to racing based on the selection of perks. The average player will be faced with a good challenge, while more advanced players will focus on building momentum for what’s to come, thanks to combos and scores that reward players with Star moves. Mid game this is where the curves synchronize – the skill of the player will be decisive here. End of Game This is where a player’s skills and use of perks will determine how long they can survive.
In order to keep each session engaging, we had to create a system to generate enemy waves – a system where chance helps create crazy situations but still built on specific rules. Enemies are divided into categories:
The executioners : enemies who occupy the screen more by their number than by their strength.
Advancement of the henchmen: enemies with specific attacks. You will have to be smart to beat them.
Elite men: they are game changers who force you to adapt your strategy and not go wrong.
With these in place, the game can design waves like we did for the main campaign and create some interesting combinations: 4 minions + 2 advanced forages, 8 forages + 1 elite, 2 elites, etc.
Each enemy has a rank value, each level has a value cap (for example, level 4’s rank cap is 400). To keep advanced players challenged, procedural generation can exceed this cap. A rubber band system balances things out, however: hits 450 in one level and the next starts at -50. The reverse is true, so be careful!
Gladiator Biome Variants
Create new levels and new enemies
The mode offers completely new arenas. We wanted to create a feeling of oppression, that feeling of survival, pushing players to their limits. We’ve been thinking about new biomes and unique traps for each.
Concepts of traps in the plant biome
Having new playable characters but no new enemies would have been a missed opportunity! While the art team was busy creating all of the playable characters, I decided to select sprites from the original games. A total of 30 retro enemies are built into SoR4, including a few bosses that still give players nightmares.
Even though I tried to align most of them with the AI spirit of the original game, they still had to be adapted to the SoR4 game system. For example, some retro enemies continued to use invincible attacks, so we replaced them with armor attacks. This means that they can absorb a few hits while having their health bar impacted.
Added new playable characters and new moves
As soon as the team got the green light for a DLC, we started working on Max, Shiva and Estel. Fan requests were very strong for this trio and we already had a head start since their character design was finished and some animations were already integrated.
Max is a grappler, of course. He’s a slow character in SoR2, but experienced players can be very quick with him, so I had to keep that in mind while adapting him to the new game system.
For Is she, we had carte blanche so we decided to give it a unique style, very direct and impactful compared to the other two characters. We’ve also added explosives and stun grenades to his regular move list.
I wanted to build the Shiva character around his combos. For the list of Shiva’s alternate moves, I took inspiration from his special attack as a boss in Streets of Rage 4. I was able to create a lot of techniques based on creating clones.
Teach classic characters new tricks
Perks are a key part of rogue-lite games, and we looked for inspiration and elements that could be used in the SoR4 gaming experience. After release, I created for fun an alternate version of Axel with a whole new set of moves using animations and illustrations that were already there. I then added some FX on it. This is how the idea was born to permanently unlock new movements as a reward in Survival mode. Since you can fully customize your character’s movement set, this DLC offers players a lot of discoveries. And once you’ve unlocked everything, you’ll want to try out each combination yourself in order to get the highest score.
Streets of Rage 4: Mr. X Nightmare will be released on July 15 for PlayStation 4.
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